“Guernica has achieved iconic status for its portrayal of the effects of war on ordinary people, horses and bulls”, the Doctor told me one weekend, as he was loading the dishwasher. “But I feel Picasso left some minorities, and the effect of indiscriminate aerial attack upon them, under-represented. If I have managed to redress the balance even in a small way, I have not laboured in vain.”
“Or even in Spain”, I quipped, trying to lighten the mood.
“He painted it in Paris. Now bugger off.” said the doctor as he tried to squeeze in an extra soup bowl.
The old fella always seems to lash out as he descends Olympus. We must bear it as the price of his presence among us.